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The language barrier between English-speaking investigators and Spanish-speaking witnesses is a growing problem. (Updated 28 February 2011)

Now there is a simple solution: translation cards. A West Palm Beach (Florida) police officer saw a translation card being used by Charlotte-Mecklenburg law enforcement and brought the idea home to his agency. Within four hours of distributing the cards, West Palm Beach police had arrested an individual with information gained from witnesses using the translation cards. One side of the card shows weapons and logos for different makes of vehicles. The other side lists—in Spanish and English—various identification features: age, hair color, and clothing. Witnesses simply circle the features that they observed (for example, teen/joven; bald/calvo; sweatshirt/sudadera). The cards are being distributed free by Tammy Kassner. She can be reached by phone at 800-429-9300 Ext. 107.Joseph Schmoke, CEO of Andrew Jackson University. He can be reached by e-mail:
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or by phone: 205-451-2071.

SKELETONIZED REMAINS that were carefully unearthed from the desert sands of Iraq tell their own story: the bones of an adult, still dressed in a woman’s apparel, lie supine. The skull is perforated by a bullet hole. Tucked in the space between the ribs and the left humerus is a much smaller skeleton, bones in the skull un-fused, and the fully clothed body partially swaddled in a blanket.